Banksy bids farewell to New York with balloons

By Chris Boyette, CNN

Updated 4:05 PM ET, Fri November 1, 2013

Banksy, the elusive street artist33 photos

A mural of a weeping woman, painted by the British street artist Banksy, is seen in Khan Yunis, Gaza, on Wednesday, April 1. The mural was painted on a door of a house destroyed last summer during the fighting between Israel and Hamas. The owner of the house said he was tricked into selling the door for the equivalent of $175, not realizing the painting was by the famously anonymous artist.

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Banksy, the elusive street artist33 photos

A Palestinian child stands next to a Banksy mural of a kitten on the remains of a destroyed house in Beit Hanoun, Gaza, on Thursday, February 26.

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Banksy, the elusive street artist33 photos

A child in Beit Hanoun walks past a mural February 26 that depicts children using an Israeli watchtower as a swing ride.

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A Banksy mural depicting pigeons holding anti-immigration signs was destroyed by the local council in Clacton-on-Sea, England, in October after the council received complaints that the artwork was offensive.

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Banksy, the elusive street artist33 photos

A Banksy work appears at a youth center in Bristol, England, in April 2014. Called "Mobile Lovers," it features a couple embracing while checking their cell phones. Members of the youth center took down the piece from a wall on a Bristol street and replaced it with a note saying the work was being held at the club "to prevent vandalism or damage being done." The discovery came shortly after another image believed to be by Banksy surfaced in Cheltenham, England.

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Banksy, the elusive street artist33 photos

A boy walks past graffiti street art believed to be by Banksy in April 2014. The image depicts men in trench coats and dark glasses holding old-fashioned listening equipment -- apparently a commentary on government surveillance. The artwork appeared on the side of a house in Cheltenham near the Government Communications Headquarters, the UK equivalent of the National Security Agency.

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A set of balloons that reads "BANKSY!" is seen off the Long Island Expressway in Queens, New York, in October 2013. Banksy artwork appeared all over New York that month.

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Banksy also offered up a T-shirt design on his website for fans to download and print on their own.

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A leopard placed on the wall of New York's Yankee Stadium was revealed on October 30, 2013.

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"The Banality of the Banality of Evil" actually started out as a thrift store painting in New York City. Once altered by Banksy, who inserted an image of a Nazi officer sitting on a bench, it was re-donated to the store in October 2013, according to the artist's site.

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Banksy's art exhibit "Grim Reaper Bumper Car" sits on New York's Lower East Side on October 25, 2013. The famously anonymous artist, whose paintings regularly go for six figures at auction houses around the world, said he was on a "residency on the streets of New York."

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A Banksy piece covers the main entrance to Larry Flynt's Hustler Club in New York's Hell's Kitchen on October 24, 2013.

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Banksy's replica of the Great Sphinx of Giza was made in Queens out of smashed cinder blocks.

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Banksy's "Ghetto 4 Life" appeared in the Bronx on October 21, 2013. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg suggested that Banksy was breaking the law with his guerrilla art exhibits, but the New York Police Department denied it was actively searching for him.

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Banksy art is seen on the Upper West Side of New York on October 20, 2013.

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Banksy work in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, was vandalized in broad daylight on October 17, 2013.

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One of Banksy's pieces is this fiberglass sculpture of Ronald McDonald having his shoes shined in front of a Bronx McDonald's.

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Graffiti depicting the Twin Towers popped up in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York on October 15, 2013.

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Banksy's "Sirens of the Lambs" art installation tours the streets of Manhattan on October 14, 2013. It was a fake slaughterhouse delivery truck full of stuffed animals.

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Banksy's "Concrete Confessional" is seen on the Lower East Side of Manhattan on October 14, 2013.

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A Banksy mural is seen on a wall in Queens on October 14, 2013. The quote is from the movie "Gladiator." It says, "What we do in life echoes in eternity."

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A woman poses October 7, 2013, with Banksy's painting of a heart-shaped balloon covered in bandages. The piece, in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, was defaced with red spray paint shortly after it was completed.

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A Banksy mural of a dog urinating on a fire hydrant draws attention on October 4, 2013.

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This installation, seen October 9, 2013, on the Lower East Side of New York, depicts stampeding horses in night-vision goggles. Thought to be a commentary on the Iraq War, it also included an audio soundtrack.

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Gallery assistants adjust Banksy's "Love Is in the Air" ahead of an auction in London on June 24, 2013. The piece was sold for $248,776.

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"The Crayola Shooter" is found in Los Angeles in 2011. It shows a child wielding a machine gun and using crayons for bullets.

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People walk past a Banksy painting of a dog urinating on a wall in Beverly Hills, California, in 2011.

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Banksy murals popped up around New Orleans a day before the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in 2008.

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A silhouette of a child holding a refrigerator-shaped kite is seen on a wall in New Orleans in 2008.

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Graffiti on the side of a building in New Orleans shows an elderly person in a rocking chair under the banner, "No Loitering," in 2008.

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A scene titled "Chicken Nuggets," from Banksy's "The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill," is seen in New York in 2008.

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A man walks past a Banksy piece in London in 2006.

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A stenciled image of two policemen kissing is seen in London in 2005.

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Story highlights

Graffiti artist Banksy's final artwork floated near the Long Island Expressway

Artist stirred controversy, raised money for charity during his month in New York

He left daily works, including performance art and traveling exhibits, throughout city

Like a signature on a work of art, a set of balloons that read "BANKSY!" tied to the side of a warehouse visible from the Long Island Expressway in Queens could be the final piece of the famously anonymous British graffiti artist's monthlong street art residency in New York City.

On his website, Banksy called it "An inflatable throw-up on the Long Island Expressway."

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The balloons are already down, according to local reports, and police would not comment on whether they had them or what they would do with them.

One of his last pieces, a thrift-store painting he vandalized then re-donated to the thrift store, 23rd St Housing Works in Manhattan, was put up for auction online starting at $74,000, and ended up selling $615,000, according to the store's website.

Each day of October, Banksy unveiled new works of art around New York. The works were then announced on his website and posted to Instagram. Many of the surprise exhibits followed his signature street-art style: stencils spray-painted on streets, walls of buildings and under bridges.

Others include an animated YouTube video showing what appears to be footage of jihadist militants shooting down an animated Dumbo the Elephant and traveling installations, including a slaughterhouse delivery truck full of stuffed animals touring the city. Also produced were performance art pieces such as a dirt-smeared boy shining the shoes of a life-size statue of Ronald McDonald.

The New York Times opted not to publish an op-ed Banksy wrote criticizing the design of One World Trade Center, so he posted it on his website. He also used his familiar graffiti medium, stenciling "This site contains blocked messages," on a wall in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn.